Keith Christophe Vassell (born 28 July 1971) is a Canadian-Icelandic

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach and a former member of the Canadian national basketball team. He played seven seasons in the Icelandic Úrvalsdeild karla, winning the national championship in 2000 with KR and the Icelandic Cup in 2007 with Íþróttafélag Reykjavíkur.

Playing career

College career

Vassell played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for

Brandon University Brandon University is a university located in the city of Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, with an enrolment of approximately 3,375 (2020) full-time and part-time undergraduate and graduate students. The current location was founded on July 13, 1899, ...

. Over his college career he was a CIS Player of The Year (1995), CIS Rookie of the Year(1991), Three times CIS All-Canadian (1993-1996), 5 time GPAC conference 1st Team All-Star (1991–96). In 1996, he led the school to the CIS championship and was named as the tournament MVP.

Club career

After spending his first professional season in Spain with Viña Costeira, Vassell signed with KR of the Icelandic Úrvalsdeild karla in January 1998. He spent four and a half seasons with the club, winning the national championship in 2000. He joined

Hamar Hamar is a List of cities in Norway, town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hedmarken. ...

in the Úrvalsdeild in December 2003. During the season, he was granted Icelandic citizenship. He split the 2003–2004 season with

KTP Basket Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat Basket, shortly KTP Basket, is the largely independent basketball team of Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat, a Finnish sports club based in Kotka, and has played in the Korisliiga since 1957. The club has won the Finnish c ...

and Porvoon Tarmo in the

Korisliiga The Korisliiga is the top-tier professional basketball league in Finland, comprising the top 12 teams of the country. In its current format, each team plays all other teams two times in the regular season, once at home and once away, for a total o ...

, averaging 14.9 points in 31 games. In November 2005, he signed with Jämtland Basket of the Swedish

Basketligan Svenska Basketligan, or the Swedish Basketball League (SBL), is the premier league for professional basketball in Sweden. The league was originally established in 1992 as Basketligan and was known as that prior to the season of 2006–07, but whe ...

. After Jämtland was knocked out in the playoffs, Vassell signed with

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses (), commonly known as Os Belenenses or simply Belenenses, is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 19,856 ...

in the

Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol The Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol (), also known as Liga Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is the top men's professional club basketball league in Portugal. History From the 2008–09 season onward, the competition has been again organised by ...

. He spent the 2005–2006 season with Union Neuchâtel in the SB League, averaging 13.6 points in 22 games. In 2006, Vassell returned to Iceland and signed as a player-coach for

Fjölnir Fjölnir ( ) is a List of legendary kings of Sweden, legendary king in Norse mythology said to have been the son of Freyr (Frey) and his consort Gerðr (Gertha). The name appears in a variety of forms, including Fiolnir, Fjölner, Fjolner, and F ...

. He was fired midseason but signed with ÍR to finish out the season as a player. In February 2007, he helped ÍR to the Icelandic Cup finals where they beat Hamar/Selfoss 83–81. In 10 regular season games for ÍR, Vassell averaged 9.7 points and 5.5 rebounds but upped those averages to 15.7 points and 5.7 rebounds in the playoffs.

National team career

Vassell played for 11 years for the Canadian national basketball teams.

Coaching career

Vassell's first coaching stint was with KR men's team in 1998–1999. He coached KR women's team for the 2001–2002 season, winning both the Icelandic championship and the Icelandic Cup. In 2006 he was hired as the head coach of

. In December that year, he was fired and replaced by Bárður Eyþórsson. Vassell's next coaching job was to coach at his alma mater, Brandon University, from 2008 to 2010, winning the GPAC division and getting to Canada West Final Four. They also won the Wesman Classic at Christmas time. Vassell served as the head coach of Niagara College Knights men's basketball team from 2014 to 2017, amassing a 34–19 record and back-to-back fourth-place finishes at the OCAA Championship. On March 11, 2017, the

Niagara River Lions The Niagara River Lions are a Canadian professional basketball team based in St. Catharines, Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Niagara, that competes in the Canadian Elite Basketball League. From 2015 to 2018, they were members of the Natio ...

' head coach Grâce Lokole stepped down from his position and became the assistant coach. The team named Vassell as the interim head coach to finish the season. In August 2017, Vassell was hired as the head coach of

London Lightning The London Lightning is a Canadian professional basketball team based in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, with home games at Canada Life Place. The team competes in the Basketball Super League (North America), Basketball Super League. History The ...

of the

National Basketball League of Canada The National Basketball League of Canada (NBL Canada; ) was a Canadian professional men's minor league basketball organization. The NBL Canada was founded in 2011, when three existing Premier Basketball League teams joined with four new franchis ...

. In 2018, he guided the Lightning to the NBL championship. After a 4–4 start the

2018–19 NBL Canada season The 2018–19 NBL Canada season is the eighth season of the National Basketball League of Canada. The regular season ran from November 15, 2018, to March 31, 2019. League changes The league originally intended to move the St. John's Edge to the At ...

, the Lightning fired Vassell. In September 2019, Vassell was hired as an assistant coach to Durham Lords men's basketball team.

References

External links

Úrvalsdeild statistics
at kki.is
Korisliiga statistics
at basket.fi {{DEFAULTSORT:Vassell, Keith 1971 births Living people Canadian emigrants to Iceland Canadian expatriate basketball people in Finland Canadian expatriate basketball people in France Canadian expatriate basketball people in Iceland Canadian expatriate basketball people in Spain Canadian expatriate basketball people in Sweden Canadian men's basketball coaches Canadian men's basketball players Canadian women's basketball coaches Fribourg Olympic players Keith Vassell Keith Vassell Keith Vassell Keith Vassell Keith Vassell Keith Vassell Keith Vassell Hamar men's basketball players ÍR men's basketball players Jämtland Basket players KR men's basketball players KR men's basketball coaches KR women's basketball coaches KTP-Basket players Nanterre 92 players Union Neuchâtel Basket players FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Canada Summer World University Games medalists in basketball FISU World University Games silver medalists for Canada Keith Vassell Keith Vassell Keith Vassell Forwards (basketball) Medalists at the 1995 Summer Universiade Porvoon Tarmo players